1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air filtering apparatus that can remove microorganisms floating in the air such as bacteria, virus, fungus, etc. (hereinafter merely referred to as “virus, etc.”), and more particularly to an air filtering apparatus having a scale removal detecting mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a filtering apparatus in which tap water is electrolyzed to generate electrolytic water containing active oxygen species such as hypochlorous acid or the like, and virus, etc. floating in the air are removed by using this electrolytic water (for example, see JP-A-2002-181358). According to this filtering apparatus, electrolytic water is supplied to a humidifying element formed of non-woven cloth or the like, and virus, etc. in the air are brought into contact with the electrolytic water in the humidifying element to inactivate the virus, etc., thereby filtering the air.
However, in the above air filtering apparatus, scale is generated and deposited on electrodes for electrolysis due to metal ions, calcium ions or magnesium ions contained in water used to generate electrolytic water, so that electrolysis performance and durability are reduced when the air filtering apparatus is operated for a long time and thus the air filtering performance itself is lowered. Therefore, there is a problem that the labor for maintenance of the electrodes is increased.